Phone Calls

At least to me, the telephone is something new. I was exposed to that technology when I was 16 or 17, because I lived in a small town in my home country. We did not have access to it considering our town was “underdeveloped” and most of the people did not need a telephone to deliver their message. If we had something urgent to talk about with our relatives in another part of the island, we went to their house at the very same day. Of course, it was not convenient since the transport system, as well as the infrastructure and the distance, did not help us much to convey the message quickly.

I do not remember when I first used a telephone, but I thought it was something amazing when I first used it, because I can hear my friend or relatives’ voice from the device, although they live in another part of the island. Far before I used the technology, however, I have learned the technicalities of how a telephone works, but my knowledge about the technology was limited only to the science behind it.

It was a good news to us when the national telephone company expanded its network to our area. Soon enough, almost everyone in the neighborhood installed a telephone, and it felt like an exciting feeling to most families when their telephone rang. It was like a call from “Heaven” and they were proud to have it, because it showed the community that they were well off. Before it entered our area, a telephone was considered as a luxury, because it could reach only the middle and the higher class. Everything changed when it became part of our town considering the lower class could finally “chip in” to the development of the country in general.

Now, almost everyone uses a telephone, land line or cell phone, to communicate with their friends and loved ones, but I personally dislike it. I had my first cell phone almost two years ago, but I have disliked it even before I had one. I cannot stand the tone or the vibration, because it always bothers me, especially when I’m in the middle of a lecture or Jum’ah, Friday prayer*.

It is true that emergency or urgent issues come when they are not expected, but I often wonder why we cannot turn off or set our cell phone to silent when we know that we will spend about two hours for the lecture or Jum’ah. It always bothers me when the lecture or Jum’ah is interrupted by someone’s cell phone. I don’t know if I have to “show” sympathy if the call is a bad news, like “I call you to let you know that I want to break up with you,” but if it is a call like “Sorry I cannot go shopping with you today,” I am irritated, but I would rather not say anything about it.

Honestly, I am scared of phone calls, because you never know what kind of news you are going to hear. If it is a good news, it is no problem, but if it’s the opposite, I’ll probably say, “Don’t even bother calling me for a bad news.” Every time the telephone rings in my room, my hearts pounds. My mind is filled with questions, “Maybe it is from the Embassy; maybe it is from my family who wants to tell me some bad news; maybe it is from so and so,” and I feel relieved when I find out that it is not a bad news.

You just never know when that call comes to your life, but I’m prepared for the worst.

Footnote

* Salaatul Jum’ah is the weekly congregational prayer offered on Friday at the time of Zuhr, the prayer after midday (but before the shadow of the sun becomes twice its length from midday). Jum’ah substitutes for Zuhr prayer when said in a congregation. The Qur’an has enjoined the Muslims to observe Jum’ah services regularly in groups: “O believers, when the call is given for the Friday prayer, hasten to the remembrance of Allah and leave your trading, this is best for you, if you but know it.” (Al-Quran, 62:9).

Appreciating the 29th day of February

Today is special to some people, because we have twenty-nine days this month. So, for all of them, who were born on February 29, they can be happy, because February 29 doesn’t come so often. As you all know, we usually have only twenty-eight days in February, but the addition of one day in every four years is a special treatment to our life. We have a longer year.

There is nothing special in my life today, although I have to be grateful because today is Friday. Moreover, everyday is the same, from Monday to the next Monday, and so is the time. Approximately, we have about twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week. There is nothing different at all, except the condition. That’s what makes my life a little different. The date and the time are just the values that will remind me of a certain condition that happened in the past or that I might do in the near future. For example December 28; that’s the day when I left my home country for the first time (And I haven’t been home ever since). Another date is February 23. That’s the day when I first set foot in Europe. Those two dates are important to me, because there is a change of condition in my life, else, it’s just an ordinary day, just like the other day. And I quote: ” Nothing excites me, and I don’t know where I belong,” which is a song by Natalie Imbruglia called “Just another Day.”

However, because today “occurs” every four years, I want to mark the special occasion by writing on my blog. Next year, “today” won’t exist, because it won’t fit in. And I can’t write anything today next year. It will be a non-existing date that we cannot invent or add on our calendar, because it just doesn’t work. Nevertheless, the change of conditions that happen on February 29 in everyone’s life still exists, because the conditions are absolute, whether a person wins a lottery, gets married, meets his/her soul mate or whatever.

Today is just like the other day. I’m just waiting for a miracle to happen and “Boom!” Everything changes.